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Hurst: No Guarantee Waghorn Still at Town on Opening Day
Thursday, 19th Jul 2018 09:04

Town boss Paul Hurst says he can’t guarantee that Martyn Waghorn will still be with the Blues on the opening day of the season, the club having received “firm interest” in their star striker. Last month, TWTD revealed that numerous Championship clubs were chasing the 28-year-old with Middlesbrough and Birmingham City among those keen, while Derby County have subsequently shown strong interest and Nottingham Forest have also been linked and Sheffield United are now reported to have made a £5 million bid.

Speaking in a wide-ranging interview on Mark Murphy’s BBC Radio Suffolk breakfast show this morning, which can be heard in full here, Hurst outlined the position regarding Waghorn, who scored 16 times and recorded 11 assists following last August’s £200,000 move from Rangers.

“I’m not here to try and fool anyone, I never do. There is interest there, firm interest,” he confirmed.

“I’ve said to Martyn that I would like him to stay at the football club, we’ll see how that unfolds.

“I’d love to be able to say, ‘100 per cent, Martyn Waghorn will be in the team against Blackburn’, but I can’t honestly say that.

“But at the minute I don’t think we’re close to meeting a valuation for the player and I’d like him here.”

Hurst says he’d have to spend a lot to find a replacement for the ex-Sunderland, Leicester and Wigan man.

“It was a fantastic deal that Mick [McCarthy] and the football club did to bring him in at that level and also what he produced was fantastic,” he added.

“His stats were arguably the highest in the Championship in terms of goals and assists, so he’s a major player for us.”

Regarding incoming signings, with the transfer window closing on August 9th, he said: “We have [to move quickly]. We’re certainly trying [to get players in]. My phone is in danger of exploding, I’m having lots of conversations and other people at the football club are working extremely hard to do that.

“At the same time we won’t be held to ransom, we’ve got to get value for money, and that’s what we’ll continue to try and do.”


Photo: TWTD



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Bert added 09:08 - Jul 19
Waghorn moving on is the last thing I want to hear. I hope the club do everything to keep him.
32

WeWereZombies added 09:08 - Jul 19
Well, at least he didn't call 'the football club' 'the business'.
2

MeenoITFC added 09:09 - Jul 19
Bad news for us, but if a player wants the move there's not a lot we can do. Just hope if he does move on we'll get a proven replacement with some of the fee from him.
5

StringerBell added 09:09 - Jul 19
It is imperative that we keep him unless we are offered stratospheric money - nothing less than 10m for me (esp if that overrated chimp Madison is worth over 20m)
15

hampstead_blue added 09:11 - Jul 19
Money talks.

Hey ho. Wont be the first or last time we lose a cracking player.

So long as we hold the buyers feet very close to the fire and extract every last drop of cash I'll be happy.

Life is unfair. Accept it and move on.

1

mojo added 09:12 - Jul 19
I thought PH came across very well in the interview, level headed, well grounded, likeable. I assume the favourite cheese question came from someone on here?
5

SamWhiteUK added 09:14 - Jul 19
"We won't be held to ransom"

That's what I like to hear. So often have we let players go for much less than they are worth, or let their contract run out, let them leave by mutual consent etc. Let's start actually getting some money in for them
9

essextractorboy93 added 09:14 - Jul 19
Got to keep Waghorn but if someone comes in with silly money for him and he wants to move then its difficult to keep him. Hurst can't guarantee Waghorn will be here but I'm sure he will be extremely reluctant to sell. If we did sell then it would be almost impossible to replace him, absolutely brilliant signing. I hope Waghorn wants to stay, absolutely brilliant player at this level.
13

Currie10 added 09:16 - Jul 19
Madison overrated!? Lets take off our Ipswich hat for a second. Absolutely quality midfielder so far - if we had him, we'd be creaming our pants if he was pulling the strings for us at CM.

Maybe Waghorn going could be like Dyer 99?

Not sure what the fee would be - 28 maybe the downside. £5-£8.5 mill? Maybe rising to £10 mill with top ups!?
-2

BlueBlood90 added 09:17 - Jul 19
If Waghorn goes then I really think we'll be in a relegation battle next season. Not because I don't believe in Hurst but we already lack quality as it is and this would be a major blow. I'm hoping we're in the process of offering him a new and improved deal to keep him here. We shouldn't even be considering taking bids less than £10m in the current market. Boro are rejecting bids of £10m-£12m for strikers like Patrick Bamford and Assombalonga who both scored less last season.
17

MyBlueHeaven added 09:18 - Jul 19
Great to hear a platitude-free manager giving us a no-BS take on things. He seems to be down the line with most things which means players should know where they stand, which is a good thing for togetherness and spirit.

As for Waghorn… 28, just the one strong season, bought for next to nothing... if we get anything over 7 million for him we should sell. Assuming Waghorn accepts personal terms of course.

Like it or not, with Evans' approach, we can be put in the same bracket as Brentford and Barnsley… buy low > develop > sell high(er). For Championship clubs without parachute payments and/or an FFP-ignoring owner this is the future.
7

TractorBoyTommy added 09:20 - Jul 19
We should sell him to a team like Birmingham who actually are showing ambition, would be nice to see the lad in the prem. Good luck to him.
-11

Chicago_Blue added 09:21 - Jul 19
KEEP HIM!!!!!
4

christiand added 09:23 - Jul 19
Very refreshing from approach PH. Waghorn would be a huge loss with his goals and assists. We'd have to spend a lot of his fee to get in proven quality and not a cheap alternative otherwise we will be in for a tough and very long season!
9

DutchTractorboy added 09:30 - Jul 19
Don't get me wrong, I want Waghorn in the starting 11 come opening day of the season, he's proven his quality has he not? But if the big spenders come in and splash 5 million or more, Hurst will see his chance.

If Waghorn does leave, I expect Hurst to be after at least two forward players and three defensive players. Evans should hand Hurst the 5 million, and I'm pretty confident that Hurst will want to "put his stamp on the squad" by getting the League 1 gems that he already has in mind.
5

MooseJuice added 09:36 - Jul 19
Clever of Hurst to mention the interest. Will make any potential buyers think/know they're involved in a bidding war and push his price up. Certainly don't want to lose the guy but if we can pick up another Waghorn/Murphy (who we've proven are out there for reasonable money) with the funds plus one or two more quality defenders then it'd probably be considered good business. Quite a big 'if' though!
6

Cheshire_Blue added 09:39 - Jul 19
Shows a Clear lack of ambition on the part of ITFC.
Time will tell.
-9

Bergholtblue added 09:46 - Jul 19
A refreshingly honest comment by Hurst. Obviously the club do want to keep him but if someone offers him a wage that we can't match and he wants to go, he'll be off.

Its the same with Bart. Yes he has just signed a new contract but if an offer is made that meets our valuation and he will get a lot more, he will be off too. And who could blame either of them? How many of us would not say goodbye to their boss and go and do exactly the same work for a new one if the rewards were doubled?

This is the nature of the game now and we just have to live with it. If the players do go we just have to replace them and hopefully get another hidden gem. MM proved that they are out there you just have to sift through some of the dross to find them.
7

bluehook added 09:48 - Jul 19
We need his energy and enthusiasm in the team it's imperative that he stays. If we did sell and managed to get a very large fee, who is available as a replacement that could match his stats of last season?

IMO he's just as important to the team as BART is.
4

Len_Brennan added 09:52 - Jul 19
Disappointing to think we are likely to lose such a hard working quality, goal scoring forward. Anything less than £8m would be too cheap.
In terms of how Hurst seems to like setting out his side's though, I wonder would we get the best out of Waghorn under such a system. He is certainly adaptable & capable of doing a job across the front lines, but in a Hurst 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, with emphasis on attacking wingers either side of a centre forward, Waghorn is not a natural fit. Perhaps Hurst is thinking that he can get more of what he wants by rebuilding with a sizeable transfer fee in his pocket.
5

BlueandTruesince82 added 09:56 - Jul 19
I hear the price for waggs is £7 mil plus.

That's heresay though so let's see.

PH might let him go if he can get a decent false 9. He sees him as playing off a striker, just a touch deeper where he can (in theory) open up defences, create and influence....

As it stands I honestly think Drinan will start as a loan striker and waggs off him in the hole, may change if we get someone in.

No BS from Hurst, Mick claimed no BS but not always true
Feels like Hurst really is.
2

PortmanTerrorist added 09:57 - Jul 19
Doing good business won't get us promoted. Yes i trust PH, but am really not sure where he will find better even with £2-3m to spend. Unless we are writing this season off as a transition year (in which case sell Waghorn and let Bart keep us up), or he himself is desperate to leave, then he stays.
2

MickMillsTash added 10:00 - Jul 19
How many goals would England have scored had Waghorn been on set pieces?

Not sure where Waghorns best position is - not big or quick enough to play through the middle - not defensive minded enough when wide in midfield and not skilful enough as a number 10 -
Regardless a big loss if he departs
1

Palestine added 10:07 - Jul 19
I like Hurst, and I am a realist - if the player really wants to leave it will be hard to keep them.

That said, somehow I get a weird feeling that Hurst wouldn't hold out for the top top price for our stars. I can't really back up this hunch....just a feeling I have. I don't think the Bart talk (£2.5-3m) helped this feeling. I want him - and Ipswich - to be really bullish and scare clubs off with silly money prices.... rather than a fatalistic, oh' we've sold him for £2m....

Let's hope I am well wrong.
1

RRanger added 10:10 - Jul 19
Where in the above article does it say that Waghorn wants to go? Nevertheless any move for him will mean a lot of money (hopefully for the club as well as Waghorn. No player is irreplaceable and there is no guarantee that Waghorn will have as good a season this year as last year. After all if he had done anywhere near as well in previous seasons we wouldn't have got him for £200,000!
I don't want to see him go and obviously neither does PH but I'm sure the club won't let him go on the cheap and if he does go PH will bring in someone else, quite possibly from League 1 or 2. Any new player is a gamble...there are no guarantees in football particularly with goal scorers, and in any case even if he stays I still feel we need another striker. I think the next few weeks will certainly be quite exciting.
9


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